Pigeons to Rota

Pigeons in Naval Aviation parlance is bearing and distance to a place on this planet given by a radar controller either on a ship or airplane to another aircraft. So, if you were to receive a radio transmission that said, “Firebreather One Six, pigeons to Rota are 092 at 72 ,” you as the pilot would know that to go to Rota (Naval Air Station Rota, Spain) from your current position, you would fly a heading of 092 and after 72 miles of flying, you’d be there.

Well, here’s a story about that and as most Naval Aviators know, sometimes the pigeons are wrong. And, oh BTW, the H-2 in the photo was one of the helicopters in our detachment. Thanks to the Grandpaw Pettibone chapter of ANA, here’s the link to the story. http://gpsana.org/?p=2570